Traveler
by vaticancameos221b
Summary: The sequel to Resurrection. A traveler's life is never easy, but if you're the last one on earth its even harder.
1. Chapter 1

Snow crunched underfoot as I make my way through the graveyard, on the lookout for any more assassins. It seemed like more and more people were trailing me every day trying to kill me. Ever since Melissa died I had been followed by people who were either trying to kill me or torture me, I called these people the assassins.

Roughly 2 months ago that day was the day she died and my life as a fugitive had begun. I fought off people who were trying to kill me every day, as if I didn't have enough enemies already. All that fighting had really taken a toll on me, both mentally and physically. Shortly before I left to go live on the streets for the protection of the others, L talked to me privately. He told me that what Melissa had told me right before she died was true, I would experience some very painful obstacles. He also said something that shocked me, I can still remember what he said word for word.

"You will never be safe again, many people will try to kill you, and others will torture you. The reasons will be explained if you survive and find the path. But Melissa spoke the truth about another thing as well, you will have no purpose in life after you find the path that will cause the others to discover their abilities." What others? What path? What abilities? Who the hell would try to kill me? How do you know all this? I asked those questions but L simply looked at me sympathetically, which made me very angry. I didn't need sympathy, I needed answers. But I imagine I'm boring you, lets get back to the story and I'll tell you later.

Snow crunched underfoot as I made my way through the graveyard, on the lookout for any more assassins. I scanned the names on the graves until I found who I was looking for. I kneeled down in front of the gravestone and pressed my palm to it, wishing a had the powers to resurrect the dead like Melissa.

I am what is called a traveler, as in time traveler. I'm not a madman with a box or a crazy scientist with a DeLorean, I cant travel through time, I can only travel through memories. I can also stop time but it takes up so much energy that its too difficult and inconvenient to do, though I'm learning how to not use up so much energy.

All of a sudden I heard a rustling in the bushes behind me. Usually it would mean nothing but so many people were after me that I was maybe a little bit too cautious. I turned around slowly and found that I was not wrong to suspect the sound behind me. A person jumped out from behind the bushes and pointed a gun at me, luckily I was prepared for this sort of thing. I dropped to the ground and kicked the man's feet out from under him as fast as I could. He fell to the ground. I grabbed the man's gun as he fell and pointed it at his head.

"Who sent you? Why are you doing this? Who are you?" I know I probably should have asked those questions in a different order but it didn't matter now. I cocked the gun. "I wont kill you if you tell me." The man looked up at me.

"I am a member of the Pyis group. You will die eventually by the hands of this group, but be aware, other organizations are also targeting you." I wondered why he told me all of this and found the answer within seconds, there was a grenade in his pocket, a grenade that has just been set off. I quickly stopped time, feeling what little energy my body contained leave me. I backed away far from the assassin and stepped behind a tree, laying out my options.

I could either make sure there is enough distance between me and the man and then start time and shoot him or I could start time and leave him with the grenade, both seemed like very appealing ideas because they both have explosions in the end. I decided to start time and shoot him in the head. You may ask why I couldnt just shoot the man while time is stopped, well to answer simply, I just cant, guns don't work when time is stopped.

I can still remember that fateful day when Melissa had been killed by my mistakes, I was the one who had been so eager to start time up again that I hadn't given enough time for Matt and Near to thoroughly check Mikami and Kira for guns. If I hadn't been so impatient Melissa would still be alive. No, it wasn't the time to start feeling guilty for something that was hardly my fault, it was all water under the bridge now.

I pointed the gun at the man and took aim. I then concentrated on time and everything started moving again. The man looked around for me in surprise. The bullet went through his skull before he could figure out what was happening. A few seconds later the grenade went off and I watched the explosion. I instinctively touched the left side of my face, remembering the last big explosion I had seen. I disappeared from the graveyard, wondering if I managed to be stupid enough to destroy someone's grave.

I walked down the street and slipped into an alleyway, checking to make sure that no one is following me. I was exhausted and needed to find a place to sleep for just a few hours. All of a sudden a blinding pain flashed through my skull, making me collapse with pain. The voice started speaking a few seconds later.

"There are three organizations that only exist to cause your demise, be careful of who you trust. Be wary of the one you call R, a traitor will soon be upon you. Trust no one and you have a higher chance of surviving. Once again, good luck, Traveler." The pain quickly subsided. I laid there on the ground, holding my head gingerly in my hands.

The voice had talked to me once before. After Melissa's funeral I had left and hid in an alleyway much like the one I was in now. An unbearable pain had started up in my head like the world's worst migraine. The voice sounded like a low whisper, I couldn't tell who or even what the voice belonged to. But I had more pressing problems to attend to. I found the voice never explained itself very well, so it was up to be to figure out who R was and what the three organizations were. I had a lot of work to do and a lot to find out. I needed some help and I knew just the right person to talk to.


	2. Chapter 2

I knocked on the door of the small apartment hoping the person who was living there was available to talk to because he almost never was anymore, I suppose I got lucky that day. Maybe it was fate but I'd sooner jump off a building than believe in that whole fate and destiny crap. Matt answered the door and looked very surprised to see me, more surprised than I found comfortable. I mean come on, it wasn't like I was dead again. At first he didn't say anything, then he unexpectedly hugged me, but what surprised me even more was that I hugged back.

"Mels, I'm so glad you're alive. I thought you would've already gotten killed by now." We broke apart and he held me by the shoulders at arms length. He inspected my face more closely and did a double take on my eyes, looking confused.

"Er, Mello, when's the last time you looked in a mirror?" he asked. I shrugged, wondering what was causing him to make that face.

"I dunno. Probably a few days before I left you and the others, why?" I answered

"Come inside, there's something you might want to see." Matt led me through the tiny apartment to the surprisingly spacious bathroom. He gestured toward the mirror on the wall and I looked at my reflection carefully. At first I didn't see anything out of the ordinary until I remembered Matt looking at my eyes. I looked at my eyes and was quite surprised myself. My normally dark blue eyes were literally glowing a very bright shade of blue, it looked beyond unusual.

"What the hell?" To be completely honest with you I wasn't all that surprised, eyes had glowed like this before, but they usually only glowed when I stopped time or the voice came back. The latter took a second to register, but when it did my head started to pound. "Shit."

I fell to the floor in a huge amount of excruciating pain. My head felt like it was about to split open and hitting the edge of the counter on the way down to the hard linoleum did not help with things. I groaned in pain, the pain in my head before was nothing compared to what I was feeling now, it felt like my brain was growing and slowly stretching my skull to its breaking point.

"Mello? Yo, Mello, are you okay?" I heard Matt say. Stupid question. I wanted to say 'Do I LOOK okay to you?' but was in too much pain to do so. I waited for what felt like a year for the voice to come, holding on to the last shreds of consciousness, but it never came. I eventually passed out, cold.

When I opened my eyes again I was in a very familiar room, my bedroom at Wammy's House. I looked around and saw every detail. it felt so peaceful and so real, I couldn't be a dream, it just couldn't. The scene changed. I was in the middle of a burning building, reliving my last moments before I died the first time. All of a sudden I felt heat and an excruciating amount of pain, even worse than the pain in my head just a few moments before. I saw a white light that quickly changed to black and felt nothing, I was dead.

I woke up what must have been a few hours later in a cold sweat. At first I was confused, I wasn't used to sleeping indoors anymore, much less in a bed. I looked around and saw Matt sitting at the foot of the bed staring at me. He didn't look like he had been playing any video games but I might have been wrong. I tried to talk but nothing came out of my mouth. I tried again, confused, but with the same result.

"Matt." I tried to say it several times before he realized something was wrong.

"Mello, can you speak?" I shook my head. "Gimme a sec." He disappeared and came back with a notebook and a ballpoint pen. I took it and scribbled furiously for about 30 seconds before handing the notebook back to him. 'I don't know why but I cant talk, but never mind that, I need some help. Do you know where L is hiding? I am in dire need of talking to him.'

"What's with the fancy wording, Mels?" he said, using the nickname he used for me that he came up with when we were kids. "And why do you need to see L? I thought the main reason you left was because you didn't want to lead the assassins to him and Near."

'I've changed my mind, I really do need to see him. I have traveler problems that I need to speak to him about, you know how he seems to know everything about me before I do.' I scribbled as fast as I could, this whole losing my voice thing was really starting to freak me out. 'Just please tell me where he is, maybe he can help me with this voice thing.' Matt presented me with a strange look.

"You mean you aren't faking it? You legit lost your voice?" He stared at me, grinning stupidly.

'Screw you man. Now are you going to tell me where L is or not?'

"Sorry. Lemme go write the address down for ya." He left the room, leaving me to stare at the spot where he had just been sitting. Matt was a great friend and it made me sad that I couldn't have his help and support all the time. But this was a mission I had to face alone because I was a traveler. I had never hated my life more than at that moment.


	3. Chapter 3

A few hours later my voice came back, and just in time too. It took me a long time to find the address Matt gave me. This was apparently the place where L was currently hiding, where Near was I had not the slightest fragment of an idea, though I had assumed he was with L despite being able to fend for himself.

I knocked on the door of a seemingly high scale apartment building and a frazzled looking L answered. He didn't give me a second glance before slamming the door in my face. I banged on the door and this time he answered properly.

"My apologies, Mello. I just thought you were… well never mind that, come in." I walked through the threshold, realizing that L had just called me just Mello and not Mello-kun for the first time in my entire life. Weird.

"Where's Near?" I asked, looking around for the obnoxious albino.

"He left a few weeks ago, something about going to look for a solution to your problems. I didn't really understand what he wanted to do but I let him leave nonetheless," L replied, leading me to an extravagant sitting room. I barely had time to think what he had just said over before I discovered L and I weren't alone. In a particularly comfortable looking chair sat a girl with long white blond hair and bright green eyes, she looked at me, amused. I noticed she was wearing a lot of black leather, if I didn't know any better I would have thought that she was copying my style.

"Mello, this is Rice. She is my current assistant, though I am very tempted to ask her to help you." The girl smiled again. 'What the hell is so funny?' I thought.

"I would love to help you, Mello." The girl stood up, watching me intently.

"I would rather you wait for my consent before getting me an assistant, L." I turned to leave.

"Wait, Mello, I have some skills that might be very useful to you. I can also protect you from the assassins." How the hell did she know about the assassins? Did L tell her?

"Well yes and no. You told me most of it just now, but I got a few snippets from L as well," Rice murmured. At first I thought I must have asked the questions out loud but that still didn't answer how she knew about the assassins, then it hit me.

"Rice…" I mumbled. 'You can read minds, cant you?' I thought as clearly as I could.

"Yes my dear chump, I can." Rice sat back down and leaned back lazily in her chair.

"You and I, my dear Mello, are going to find the source of your troubles. We will track down who is sending all those assassins after you and put them to justice." Rice said. Alas, that was not the case, Rice would do far from help me. What was a real tragedy is I didn't know just yet how evil she was and what lengths she would go to in order to get what she wanted. But I will explain all that in good time.

About an hour later I was standing with Rice outside L's current headquarters. She stuck her hand in her pocket and pulled out a chocolate bar, one that I couldn't help staring at. She hardly even looked at it before wordlessly giving it to me. I thanked her and stuck it in my pocket, there was no way I could eat right now.

"So where to, Rice?" She whipped around, hair hitting her face, putting a finger to her lips. I heard something shoot past me, barely missing my ear. Before the assassin could shoot another arrow at me Rice tackled him and forced him to the ground. She pulled what looked like a needle out of her pocket and stuck it in his neck, he instantly stilled. She stood up with a look of satisfaction on her face.

"I stuck that needle in a powerful narcotic, he's fast asleep right now and he shouldn't wake up for another three or so days. Not that you asked." She turned and walked in the opposite direction of the unconscious assassin. I thought it was a wise decision to follow her, after all I didn't want to be found hanging around a guy that was passed out right in the middle of the street. It might give people the wrong idea.

I didn't bother asking Rice where we were going again that night, I had my plans and she had hers, though I didn't think about mine because of the risk that she would know. We walked through all the back alleyways in the city until we found one that Rice deemed safe. It wasn't until we stopped for the night that we talked to each other again.

"Tell me, what are we trying to accomplish? And don't just look away and change the subject, I really need to know," I said. She sat down on the ground and I sat down next to her.

"I am looking for the three groups that are trying to kill you, you are following me and planning to ditch me when my chocolate supply runs out, which it already has."

"Well riddle me this, what are you gonna do when you find them?"

"I have connections. And before you say anything, yes, I know a person from a secret society that wants to kill you, get over it. I know you may think this is all a joke, but I was hired to be your bodyguard by L, don't ditch me yet."

"Just out of curiosity, how far out does your mind reading perimeter thingy reach out? Hypothetically, if I were to ditch you, would you be able to find me?" Why the hell was I making it so obvious?

"Eventually yeah, but no faster than if you were trying to find me. It depends on how far my reading skills stretch out by how much I concentrate. I would say it goes out about ten feet at the maximum."

"If I were to leave right now would you follow me?" I asked, getting to my feet.

"I would give you a head start if that's what you mean," she murmured, giving me a slight smile. "Just go, see what happens, I sure as hell cant stop you." The way she was looking at me gave me the idea that she knew something that I didn't, and she did, something that I could've noticed but just looked past instead. I turned around and started to walk into the darkness.

"Mello." I stopped but didn't turn to face her.

"I have two powers, mind reading and resurrection, just think about that, okay?" Another one? Seriously? This was getting old.

"Yeah, okay." I started into the darkness and didn't turn around. The entire time I walked I couldn't shake the feeling somebody or something was watching me.


	4. Chapter 4

A few days after I ditched Rice I woke up tied to a pole. Literally, I was tied to a metal pole with some rope. This surprised me because I had gone to sleep in a windowsill in an old abandoned alley (there was a surprisingly high number of alleys in Winchester). I was looking around for some way to get out when the first thug came around the corner of an old brick building that was just barely starting to fall apart.

I barely had time to open my mouth when the bastard slugged me in the head, hard. And boy did it hurt. I groaned as he hit me again. I could feel myself losing consciousness, and that was something that didn't happen easily to me. It felt just as bad as the time I was in Matt's apartment and my head started hurting. I was in such an intense world of pain that it took me a while to notice someone was shouting something. Hoping for backup I opened my eyes.

Another very muscular guy was standing a few feet away from me shouting "Where is he?" I had no idea what the hell he was talking about, all I knew was that I was done with this. I surrendered myself to the tiredness that had overtaken my body and passed out.

Yeah, I know what you're gonna say. 'You pass out too much'. Well have I got news for you: you would have too if you had been in my position.

I woke up what must've been a few hours later with a horribly intense pain in my head in just about the same spot where I had gone to sleep in the first place. Was it all a dream? I touched the part of my head that had been hit and drew back, flinching. Definitely not a dream alright. I wondered if this was L's definition of the "hardships and torture" that I would have to go through.

I rolled off the window sill I was lying on and landed on the ground. I needed to talk to L again. I figured my best option was to return to L and talk to him about what was happening. Call me a wuss but I got the strangest feeling that I knew who the thugs were talking about when the one guy kept shouting "Where is he?"… and that the person in question wasn't safe at the moment.

Walking through the city, I began to think about my encounter with Rice. At the time I felt annoyed that there was yet another ressurector that I needed to worry about, but now, if anything, I felt sorry for her. All the ressurectors I had either met or known of had all died somewhat violent deaths, and I couldn't help but wonder if she was next.

It seemed like no time at all had passed when I reached L's apartment. I knocked on the door and waited for someone to answer. When the door opened I found myself staring into two evil and unforgiving red eyes. Shinigami eyes.


	5. Chapter 5

I'd heard stories about him but never in my wildest dreams did I ever thing I'd meet him. But this explained everything, why he was allying with the ressurector, Rice, why he wasn't acting quite like L, and why Near wasn't even in the picture. I wasn't staring into the face of L, but in fact I was staring into the face of the copy.

Beyond Birthday grinned and pulled me into a choke hold before I could react. The serial killer laughed an inhumane laugh while he pinned me down and bound my wrists and ankles. I tried desperately to stop time but I just couldn't, I didn't have enough energy.

"Where are Near and L?!" I yelled. B.B. smiled again, it seemed like he would never stop. "Those two got away thanks to the little brat, but you're different, you're helpless. You wont be able to get away!" He laughed again.

"I've been hunting you for such a long time. I even hired three organizations to do the work for me. You wouldn't believe the price on your head! But I found you, and I get to watch you die!" He picked up a knife that I hadn't noticed and balanced it casually on my throat.

"My days of trying to outsmart L are over, but my days of successfully defeating him have only just begun! I was a fool to light myself on fire, but I am not a fool to watch you suffer the same fate." My eyes widened, he wasn't going to slit my throat, he was going to light me on fire!

B grabbed a can of gasoline from the bookshelf above my head and began poring it on me, singing as he watched it splash on me.

"Ring around the rosie,  
Pockets full of posies,  
Ashes ashes,  
We all fall down!"

My body had burned briefly when I had gotten caught in that explosion and it was still the worst pain I have ever felt even to this day, so I was scared and preparing myself to die in the worst way possible.

B took his time, thoroughly coating me with gasoline. Finally the moment I had been dreading arrived. He lit a match and held it menacingly over my face. "Time to die!" He sang. I closed my eyes. Then he dropped the match.


End file.
